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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Last week I posted about being stressed out about a few different things with our adoption. One of the things was the approval of our home study by a lady who works for the Illinois government. If you remember, our case worker said it usually takes 4-6 weeks for this approval. So, I'm sure you can imagine how excited we were to find out yesterday that she already approved our home study! It was approved and back to our case worker in less than 10 days! We sent off our I-600 with our home study this morning to the USCIS. We should get our fingerprinting appointment date in a few weeks. As some of you know, we sent out fundraising letters last week. We actually had to send out two different groups of them because we ran out of paper. The last bunch was sent out last week. We want to say thank you to the handful of people who have sent us financial support over the last few weeks. It means so much to us that you support us on this journey and that you are excited to help bring our baby boy home.Since our letter asked for financial support, we thought it would be good to keep people updated on the financial side of the adoption. Jeremiah and I have already spent quite a bit of our savings on our adoption thus far. Today we sent out a check for $900 and next week we need to send out a check for $3,000 to CHI and another check for $2,000 to the Babyfold. In addition, when we get our referral (which we hope is in about 3 months but it could be longer) we will owe another $7,000. We know that God will provide, but it's just a little daunting to look at all of these upcoming costs.God is totally in control of our adoption and it becomes more evident every day. We can't control this process, so I'm thankful that we know our God is in control!:)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Every time Olivia takes a nap, I work on adoption paperwork. I think I've kind of been a spaz because I just want to get all of the documents completed and sent to our case worker before August (I'm sure Jeremiah would agree..but I'm almost positive he wouldn't just say "kind of a spaz." Haha). Our CHI case worker will review it and tell us what changes need to be made. There are multiple documents that are finished, but we are still working on paperwork. I think the hardest part is waiting on other people. We could finish our part of the dossier pretty quicklly, but it'll be weeks (maybe months) before we will send off our dossier. Right now we are waiting and praying that the lady approves our home study quickly so we can send it off to the USCIS. Our caseworker said this could take weeks. Then we'll get the appointment for our fingerprinting. After that, we'll just wait for our results and then we can finally put all of our dossier documents together. Jeremiah and I just applied for our passports before we left for vacation. This is one of the documents we need for our dossier. So, of course I've been a little nervous about the passports hindering our ability to send off our dossier in a timely manner. Today I sat down for my quiet time. I was praying about our adoption and that God would give me patience throughout this process. I was telling God that I knew He was in control and that the paperwork would get done. When I finished praying, I had a sense of peace. I know that God is in control. I know that right now God is preparing the perfect child for us. So no matter how long it takes us to complete our dossier, God is going to match us with the child he wants to become part of our family. The second I finished praying (no joke), I saw the mail truck come to our house. I went out to check our mailbox and found our passports! It's kind of silly, I know..but I had tears in my eyes. It was just like God was telling me, "See...you need to trust me. There's no need to worry because I'm in control."

Monday, July 11, 2011

Our case worker came today for our final visit! Did you hear me?!?! It was the final visit for our home study. Our part of the home study has been done for a few weeks, but our case worker needed to finish some of the paperwork for our license with us. Our background checks came back quickly (Praise God!) and we finished all the paperwork today. Our case worker will send our home study to get approved (or denied) by the lady in charge of adoptions. She said this process could take between 4-6 weeks. After she approves (hopefully) our adoption, we will send the home study to the USCIS with our I-600. Then the USCIS will assign us a day to get fingerprinted. In the meantime, we will finish the rest of our dossier paperwork and send out fundraising letters. I really can't say enough wonderful things about our case worker. She is amazing!:) We won't see her again until September when she comes for a visit. Jeremiah, Olivia, and I are one step closer to our baby. Please pray that the lady approves our home study quickly and we get a fingerprinting date soon. I would like to get this done before school starts (but I have no control over it). On a different note, I read the Ordinary Hero blog frequently and today I was moved to tears by this post. Throughout the past many months it has been hard for Jeremiah and me to put into words how we are feeling about adoption. I've often said to people things like, "I just don't understand why I was born here and other people were born in Africa. Why do I get to live a comfortable life when other people are suffering?" You can go to the Ordinary Hero blog to read this entire post (written by the daughter of the woman who started this foundation), but I am just posting a tiny part of it. It sums up how Jeremiah and I feel about adoption and why we are adopting from Ethiopia. "This isn’t fair. I don’t know this mother’s life, but because of the family these kids were born into, they have to sacrifice EVERY SINGLE day they are alive to begging for money, and if they don’t, they STARVE. Because of the family I was born into, I have everything I could ever need, and then some. I can go about our day without worrying once whether or not I will eat, but end up thinking things like “Do I want Mexican or pizza for lunch?” “Do I want to wear my new shirt or my favorite shirt?” Things that do not matter on the other side of the world. Things that do not relate to life or death. So why am I the “lucky one”? How did I end up in the comfortable van and not with my brothers begging for a few coins? It allowed me to realize that God has given me everything I need, so that I could be able to provide for people like this family, and everyone else I come across stuck in poverty. I can’t spend thousands of dollars traveling or tons of months in Africa, but I CAN glorify God when I do get the opportunity, I CAN support these causes from home, and I CAN find ways to reach out to the poor of my own community. If everyone in the world had exactly what they wanted, and all of our needs were provided for, we would rely on ourselves, not on God. Through the works of Christ, we are proving our faith in Him, and obeying his Word in the process. If we turn from the poor and ignore the fact that millions are suffering around the world, we are in the end turning away from God, and ignoring the command that comes from Jesus’ own mouth in the Bible."(http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com)